Given that three out of four burglaries went unsolved across England and Wales last year, you could describe this as something of a Christmas miracle. I can disclose that four precious bronze sculptures, which were stolen from Jeffrey Archer’s historic Cambridgeshire home, have been recovered.
![[The artworks, worth tens of thousands of pounds, had been taken from the back garden of The Old Vicarage in Grantchester at night while the couple were asleep]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/23/93532295-0-image-a-87_1735341505364.jpg)
‘It’s such a relief,’ the best-selling author’s wife, Dame Mary Archer, 80, tells me. ‘We are delighted.’. I disclosed last week that the artworks, worth tens of thousands of pounds, had been taken from the back garden of The Old Vicarage in Grantchester at night, while Lord and Lady Archer were asleep.
![[Clemmie Dugdale stripped down to her lingerie at her wedding reception. She is now expecting her first child]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/23/93532363-14231205-image-m-100_1735341929151.jpg)
They are understood to have been found on a travellers’ site in neighbouring Bedfordshire during a police search. ‘We are very grateful for the police’s diligent work,’ Dame Mary says. ‘They have done brilliantly.’. Mary and Jeffrey Archer pictured in London in September 2015. The couple are 'delighted' that four bronze sculptures stolen from their home have been recovered.
![[Danielle de Niese wearing a Vivienne Westwood dress and jewellery be Van Cleef at the 'Aspects of Love' opening night]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/23/93532423-14231205-image-m-102_1735342080910.jpg)
The artworks, worth tens of thousands of pounds, had been taken from the back garden of The Old Vicarage in Grantchester at night while the couple were asleep. The couple’s 17th-century home, which they have owned since 1979, was once lived in by poet Rupert Brooke, who was inspired to compose his ode The Old Vicarage, Grantchester in tribute to its ‘peace and holy quiet’.
![[Eleanor Ekserdjian was allowed to join her boyfriend, Samuel Chatto, 28, at the Royal Family’s Christmas gathering in Norfolk. Pictured: The pair at the National Gallery's summer party in June 2022]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/23/93532453-14231205-image-a-103_1735342168829.jpg)
Lord Archer, whose novels include Honour Among Thieves, had not expected to see his cherished sculptures again. ‘The saddest thing is that, according to the police, the thieves will almost certainly melt down the sculptures and the bronze will be worth just a few hundred pounds,’ he told me last week.
![[While Catherine’s earrings (pictured) belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth, it’s unclear if Eleanor’s were a gift from Sam]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/23/93532451-14231205-image-m-105_1735342248094.jpg)
